Defining Search Resources
by Charles W. Morrison,
ChristianPortals.com
There are a variety of words used to describe the aggregators of
knowledge, links and services on the internet. These definitions
are well known by those in the internet industry, but there's a few
distinctions that I'll take you on in this journey from the link list to
the full-featured portal.
Link Lists
key concept: brevity, minimal organization
The link list developed from the link page on personal homepages.
They often start off as some favorites, then grow to become an
unfocussed collection of personal links. They often serve to allow
the webmaster to remotely access their page, while at other computers.
The most basic link list does not include any kind of description or
categorization, while some longer link lists, do have a type of focus,
for instance, the pages that contain a Christian Search Engine link list.
Directories
key concept: hierarchical
Directories tend to bring order and meaning to link lists by adding
a hierarchy, that allows people to find related information quickly by
navigating down into increasingly more specific categories. Directories
also generally include a description. Directories are almost always
human-edited which means that submission acceptance times vary.
Search Engines
key concept: database, search capability
A search engine is a database driven link aggregator which emphasizes
the search portion of its capability. It may also have a Directory organization
portion and generally has automated submission methodology.
Portals
key concept: content, links, services
Portals are a content, link and service aggregators. In other words they
attempt to deliver to the internet user the following: news, weather, search engines,
directories, email, chat, and other web based services.
While there may be an Internet dictionary somewhere that has
these definitions written in stone already, these are the basic
ones that ChristianPortals will use as we begin the quest of delivering
Christian webmasters the information and resources they need
to bring usefulness to the massive amounts of information
available on the net.
Article Index
Talk about this Article in our Forum
